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SanDisk doubles the maximum size of PSP's Memory Stick format.

By Nix

Inside the PlayStation Portable box, when it ships at the end of March, will be a 32MB Memory Stick Duo unit. With game saves approximately as big as those of PS2 games (which fit on that system's 8MB card), that should be enough to store saves for just about every game you come across with your portable, plus maybe some downloadable content, a few music tracks, an occasional video clip or two. To power users, however, that's a two quart toilet for a ten gallon turd -- we need more space here, people.

Get ready to take a much bigger data dump, because SanDisk announced this week at the Photo Marketing Association (a film and digital imaging trade show, where high-capacity cards for digital cameras are an increasingly vital area of development) that it has doubled the maximum size of the Memory Stick PRO Duo format. The thumbnail-size memory format previously topped out at 1-gigabyte, but the new 2-gigabyte Memory Stick Pro Duo flash card will be available soon, in either the standard PRO Duo format or the new high-speed Ultra II line (which is compatible with the PlayStation Portable's Memory Stick Duo slot, but may not give you the full 10MB-per-second transfer rate -- since you won't be snapping off rounds of magazine-quality photos with your PSP any time soon, stick with the less expensive model.)

Sony is often considered the main force behind the Memory Stick (which can be found in the standard bubblegum-sized Memory Stick as well as the thumbnail-sized version used in PSP), but SanDisk was actually the chief inventor of the format and has been, with Sony, forwarding the technology of the Memory Stick flash memory format. Sony has not yet announced its own series of 2GB PRO Duo releases, but its MagicGate encryption system is already part of the new line for support when that feature is required.

SanDisk's new 2-gigabyte version of the Memory Stick PRO Duo will retail at a suggested retail price of $359.99 for the standard and $479.99 for the Ultra II model (with actual costs and rebate returns possibly bringing those prices lower.) There is no word yet on whether the still-spacious 1GB PRO Duo will drop in price now that it is no longer the premium format, but prices on the 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB PRO Duo Memory Sticks (in the rare cases where the 1GB stick has been available -- it's curiously very hard to find in stores) have been falling slowly but steadily in order to compete with formats such as the CompactFlash and MiniSD cards. With PSP being one of the key "killer apps" for the PRO Duo in a very heated flash memory "format war", chances are we will see continued and hopefully expedited developments in the PRO Duo format as demands for bigger and cheaper PSP storage help drive the format.

The 2GB PRO Duo and PRO Duo Ultra II Memory Sticks are already available for pre-order through several online services following this announcement, and while the high-capacity format may prove as difficult to find in stores as the 1GB Stick was, look for online retailers to ship the 2GB formats in the near future. Start chowing down those downloads now.